Joyce and Jim Lavene have a passion for romance and mystery! With forty novels to their credit (including the award winning Sharyn Howard mystery series) and a wide array of non-fiction articles and short stories, they are still going strong! They are active in local and national writer's groups, where they lecture and give workshops on the craft of writing. Converted Southerners, they live in North Carolina with their three children, two grandchildren, and assorted cats, dogs, computers, and herbs.

They welcome readers to their website at http://www.joyceandjimlavene.com Contact email-joyce@joyceandjimlavene.com

Other titles with Awe-Struck E-Books include, Flowers in the Night (nominated for the Frankfurt E-Book Award in 1999), Mask of the Stranger (Fall, 2000), Still the One (Spring, 2001), and The Singing Trees (Spring 2002)

Q: Tell us a little about your life outside of writing.
A: We’re avid photographers. We both love to drive. We get away on road trips whenever we can. Jim loves to take computers apart and put them back together. He’s also likes to sketch. Joyce is into gardening. She’s also an herbalist and naturopathic healer. We have three children, three grandchildren, a black cat named Quincy and a chocolate Lab named Hershey.

Q: What type of books do you write? Is there a reason you write (for instance) historical romance rather than science fiction?
A: We write a little bit of everything. We enjoy interviewing people for newspaper articles. But we also enjoy writing romances for the happily ever after effect. We like science fiction and mystery because we love puzzles and using our imaginations on different levels.

Q: How do you come up with the idea for a book? Once you have an idea, do you plot it out, fly by the seat of your pants, or what?
A: Ideas for books come from everywhere. The hard part is sifting through them and deciding which idea works. Sometimes we go through ten before we find one that works for both of us. After we choose the idea, we always plot it out. This isn’t more than a paragraph for each chapter, but it gives us guidelines for where we want to go. We think of it as our map from here to there. You wouldn’t want to visit a place you’ve never been without a good map!

Q: What type of writing schedule do you have? Is it flexible, or do you have a goal for each writing session?
A: We’re fortunate enough to be full-time writers now. Our writing schedule is a lot like any other work schedule. We’re usually on the computer by 7:30, take a break for lunch then back in the afternoon. We work eight hours a day, six days a week. We don’t have a goal for every day beyond working towards the end of whatever we’re working on.

Q: What one thing do you like the most about being a writer, and why? What do you like the least?
A: Our favorite thing about being writers is working together and being able to indulge our imaginations. We can travel to other worlds as we did in CHRYSALIS AND THE SINGING TREES or we can be ordinary people doing extraordinary things as we did in ‘TIL THERE WAS YOU and TREASURES OF THE HEART. The only thing we’re not crazy about (what author is?) is re-writes! YUCK!

Q: Do you write related books, such as series that revisit characters and/or settings you've written about in previous books? As a reader, do you read other authors' series?
A: We love series books and read many of them from other authors. We enjoy visiting with characters from our own books too. It’s like going to a good friend’s house!

Q: What comes first--the plot, the characters, or the setting?
A: Always the characters! We pick a person we’d like to write about, sometimes someone in real life or it can be someone we saw on TV. Then we decide what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. It was how we first started writing together; making up stories about people we knew.

Q: Is any one of your books the book of your heart, a book you felt compelled to write? Tell us about it.
A: All of our books are stories we feel compelled to write. They take on a life and form of their own as we flesh them out and write them down. Choosing one would be like choosing one child you love better!

Q: Tell us about one fan letter you received that really touched your heart.
A: We receive great letters from all of our fans. But probably the best ones are from people telling us how ALTERNATIVE DIABETIC has changed their lives or reaffirmed what they thought was true. This is a terrible disease with terrible, real life consequences. To be able to bring any light to a person suffering from it is wonderful.

Q: Do you have any closing thoughts?
A: It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to be an Awe-Struck author for five years. The people at Awe-Struck are great people to work with. Our experiences with them have led us to be better writers. People may think that the only great publishers are in New York, but we know better! Here’s to another five years!